Wrench for vertical twister travelers



April 10, 1928.

J. E. HULL WRENCH FOR VERTICAL TW :swmi TRAVELERS Filed Aug. 5, 1925 A TTOR/VE) m 7 M V M 102122 [.Hull WAQei g Patented Apr. 10, 1928.

JOHN E. HULL, F PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

WRENCH FOR VERTICAL TWISTER TRAVELERS.

Application filed August 3, 1925. Serial No. 47,710.

This invention relates to improvements in wrenches for vertical twister travelers and especially to a type of wrench required for forcing the foot of vertical twister travelers over the bottom of vertical twister rings.

This is to be clearly distinguished from methods and devices which are used for mounting spinning travelers on horizontal rings. The problem of accomplishing the latter function has been solved in the past with greater or less satisfaction, but the devices for the purpose have not been adapted for operating in springing the vertical travelers into position as I have stated above.

The difliculty of the problem I have attempted to solve arises from ring twisting, the mills use mostly bronze twister travelers, and some of these travelers are so heavy and they are so highly tempered that it is necessary to force them over the vertical rings on which they are to be used,

by some mechanical means. It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a wrench having separated yoke arms that may be forced down over the edge of the vertical ring and made to straddle a traveler which has already been manually hooked upon the upper edge of the ring, with the narrower end of the traveler suspended on the inner face of the ring and resting against the latter near its lower edge, and, by a downward thrust of the wrench, snap the lower end of the traveler over the ring at the bottom.

The problem is so serious because of the great difficulty in manually springing or snapping the travelers into place on this form of rings. This ditficulty becomes all the more serious because of the common method employed for the purpose by employees, of placing one edge of the wide end of the spool or bobbin against the back of the traveler near the foot, and then exerting a leverage to spring the traveler, by placing the opposite edge of the spool or bobbin against the spindle which comes up through the middle of the ring. These spindles are by this method often thrown out of true and the spools and bobbins are themselves injured. It is therefore an object of my improvement to construct a wrench that may be readily adjusted for operation on travelers of ditt'erent size and that may be manually operated to mount even this heavy type of vertical travelers on the vertical twister the fact that in I rings, and do so expediously without injurmg either ring or traveler.

It is a further object of my novel and improved traveler wrench to provide a tool that is relatively light in weight, has means of adjustment to the size of travelers to be used, which is easily manipulated, and that may be carried in the hand without excessive labor.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists of the novel features of construction and arrangement hereinafter more definitely described, recited in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the traveler wrench, the ring and rail being in transverse section;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the parts showing the clamping operation of the wrench arms in progress with the lower end of the traveler about to snap into position under the lower end of the ring, the dotted line position of the parts indicating the complete operation;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the form of wrench shown in Fig. 1;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of my preferred form of wrench, but on a smaller scale, and

Figure 5 is a transverse section of the wrench shown in Fig. 4, taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

In the drawings I have illustrated my novel wrench 5 as comprising a tubular handle portion 8 by which the operative may readily support the wrench in vertical position over the ring 24 with one bent-out arm or prong 7 inserted in the ring and the remaining portion 6 of the wrench extending downward on the outside of both ring and the rail 26. The wrench may be made by splitting longitudinally backward from one end of a metal tube until at a point 15 the narrower prong or arm 7 may be bent away from the wider portion and again bent downward in parallelism with the arm 6 or nearly so, until the extreme end of arm 7 is bent outward slightly at 14. The arm 6 may therefore have the form of an arc in cross section or it may be flattened from the point 15 down to the end thereof. While I have referred to this manner of making my improved wrench,'I am not at all limited to this method of manufacture, and

probably will manufacture it by another methodasfollows: Two flat steel plates 38 and 39, as shown in Fig. 4:, may be tempered and secured together at one end, as by riveting 40, the plate 38 being heavier and somewhat wider than 39. At a point 45, the plate 39 is bent outward and downward to form the flexible arm 37, corresponding to arm 7 of the other form, while plate 38 retains its alined form as the arm 35, corresponding to arm 6. In this modified form, the upper ends of the plates are tapered inwardly to receive thereon the handle 41, usually of wood. The arms 35 and 37 are operated for adjustment by the coiled spring 13, bolt and wing nut 12, as in the other form. The end 4 1 of the arm 37 corresponds to the tip 14 of the first form. It

.is to benoted that these ends 1 1 and 4A are inclined slightly outward, as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 41-, so as to produce a kind of wedging action upon the travelers when the tool is thrust vertically downward upon'them. Both these arms 7 and 37 are flexible to make easier the operation upon the delicate travelers.

Midway the length of the arms 6 and 7, holes 16 are provided therein in approximate registration through which .a bolt 10 is inserted from the arm 7, and which bolt extends out of the aperture 16 in arm 6 sufficiently to receive on the threaded end thereof a suitable wing nut 12. In operation, the tightening of the nut 12 will clamp the arms together, the coiled spring 13 serving to normally separate the arms and resist their mutual approach toward each other. This action will be the same in the form shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

In Figs. 1 and 2, a vertical twister ring 24Vhaving a peripheral flange 27 is shown resting upon the usual support-in rails .26.

In Fig. 1, a vertical twister trave er has been applied loosely to the ring by hooking the wider end 21 of the traveler over the upper edge of the ring, and the wrench has been applied to the lower end of the traveler by pressing the arm 7 against the lower end 22 of the traveler at a point designated a, while the end 25 of the traveler contacts the inner surface of the ring, and the normal tension of the traveler which is bent at 23, resists the pressure of said arm. The outer arm 6 is, meanwhile, supported against this lateral pressure of the arms by contact of 6 at its edges with the external face of the rail 26. d

Fig, 2 shows in dotted lines the position 7 of the parts after a further downward thrust has been made longitudinally of the wrench, whereby the distance between the arms 6 and 7 has decreased at the point of contact 0 thus causing a further lateral pressure on the traveler until the end 25 has snapped under the lower edge of the ring '24 after which the traveler resumes its normal shape, as shown in this view. In other words, the downward thrust of the wrench from the full-line to the dotted-line position as shown in Fig: 2, exerts a wedging action upon the traveler to accomplish the function of the tool as intended. The same function will be accomplished by the use of my wrench shown inFigs. 4 and 5, by. the efi'ect of the wedging action between arms and 37. The nut 12 is shown in Fig. 2 screwed up on the bolt 10 farther than that indicated-in Fig. 1. This is so illustratedto make plain how the'parts lllto 13 are actuated in adapting a wrench of a given size to use upon travelers of diiferent size. The different position of the parts 10 and 12 in the two views has no other significance.

In operation therefore, the wrench will first be adjusted by the wing nut 12 to the position adapted for actuating travelers of the size intended, when, after travelers have been hung upon the upper edge of the ring, it will be manually actuated by theoperative holding the tool in one hand grasping the handle 8or 41 and giving-the travelers inturn a striking thrust which readily forces the travelers into the engaged position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2,

It is apparent'that great relative speed and rapidity of action may be attained by use of this tool, that the wrench is particu: larly adapted to the peculiar function required of it, and that a great saving of time is thus gained. By it the travelers may be applied to the ring without danger of changing the form .ofthe traveler from possible excessive pressure applied at any one point, as when other nearby objects are utilized for such service, the adjacent bodies, such as a spool and spindle are not adapted, these being used more or less in the past because the discovery of such a wrench as I now have disclosed had not been made. i

I do not desire to limit myself to the precise construction above described, as various modifications as to details may be made therein without departing from the essential features of my invention, but what I do claim,

and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A traveler wrench for applying vertical twister travelers to vertical twister rings comprising an elongated tool having spaced yoke arms at one end, oneof which is'rigid and the other flexible.

2. A traveler wrench comprising a handle member, yoke arms connected to said member and normally spaced apart, one of the arms being rigid with the member and the other flexible for movement toward and from said rigid arm, and means connected with said arms for adjusting the relative distance between them.

3. A traveler wrench of the character described comprising an elongated tool having its free end, and means for adjusting the distance between said arms to adapt the wrench to different sizes of travelers fitted on said T1110.

5 A traveler wrench for mounting veril tical travelers upon their rings comprising a metal handle member, yoke arms integral with the member but separated from each other and one of them bent for the major portion of its length into substantial parallelism with the other and having its free end inclined slightly outward, and manuallyactuated means applied to said arms remote from their extended ends for forcing the arms toward each other against their normal tendency to remain spaced apart, to adjust the wrench for use with travelers of different size.

6. A wrench for forcing the loose end of a vertical traveler over the edge of a vertical twister ring when the latter is supported upon a rail comprising a handle member, normally-separated arms projecting from said member, a bolt connecting the arms transversely with its head outside one arm, and its threaded end protruding through and beyond the outside surface of the other, a coiled spring on said bolt between the arms to resist closing the arms together, and a wing nut on the outer end of the bolt for actuating the latter to press the two arms toward each other to adjust them to use upon difierent size articles therebetween, one of said arms being flexible between its outer end and the said bolt.

7. A traveler wrench for applying twister travelers to vertical twister rings comprising a handle member, yoke arms integral therewith, one arm being in alinement with the handle member and the other arm having a flexible connection with the first, a threaded bolt connection between said arms remote from their ends, the said flexible connection being such that the arms are normally parallel when no strain is exerted by said bolt, and means for adjusting said connection to vary the distance between said arms whereby a downward thrust of the tool over a ring and travelers thereon of a certain size will elongate the traveler and spring the traveler over the edge of the ring.

8. A traveler wrench for applying vertical twister travelers to vertical twister rings comprising an elongated tool having spaced yoke arms at one end, one of which is flexible and its free end inclined slightly outward.

9. A traveler wrench of the character described comprising an elongated tool having a handle at one end and yoke arms at the other, the free end of one of said arms being flexible and inclined slightly outward.

10. A traveler wrench of the character described comprising an elongated tool having a handle at one end and yoke arms at the other, one of said arms being rigid and the free end of the other being flexible and in clined slightly outward.

11. A traveler wrench for applying vertical twister travelers to vertical twister rings oomprsing an elongated tool having spaced yoke arms at one end, one of which is rigid and the free end of the other arm is inclined slightly outward.

12. A traveler wrench of the character described comprising an elongated tool having a handle at one end and yoke arms at the other, one of said arms being rigid and in alinement with the handle and the free end of the other arm being flexible and inclined slightly outward.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

JOHN E. HULL. 

